The legal consultant of the Malta Pyrotechnics Association, Labour MP Michael Falzon, has been appointed by the Government to chair a working group tasked with devising a new policy on fireworks factories.
The policy will cover the granting of permits to new factories; however, the appointment has raised questions of potential conflict of interest.
Times of Malta is informed that the appointment of Dr Falzon was made directly by the Government without any consultation with the planning authority board.
The Government is currently working on the revision of seven Mepa policies, among them on height limitations for hotels, on fuel stations and on agritourism developments with the possibility of using areas outside development zones.
All the working groups appointed to draw up the draft policies are headed by personnel from Mepa or other public entities, with the exception of that working on a fireworks factory policy.
“Although on the whole the Government has appointed competent people to these working groups, I am baffled by the appointment of Dr Falzon to head the review on fireworks factories,” said a member of the Mepa board, who preferred not to be named.
‘How can he be independent?’
“The Labour MP is a competent person in this field but how can you put him in charge of a group which is devising a policy that affects his own lobby group? How can anyone imagine that he can be independent?” the Mepa board member said.
Dr Falzon has been legal representative of the Maltese fireworks lobby for a number of years and has appeared in press conferences and television programmes representing the association.
Prior to his new appointment, he had made public statements on his thoughts about how Mepa should grant permits for new fireworks factories. Before the election, he had argued that to improve safety, Mepa needed to issue more permits in ODZ areas.
To the dismay of fireworks enthusiasts, over the past three years Mepa has tightened its policy on the issuing of new permits for fireworks factories in ODZ areas, refusing a number of applications in Mellieħa, Rabat, Nadur and Munxar.
Applications for fireworks factories in Żurrieq and Għaxaq are currently being considered.
When contacted, Dr Falzon yesterday said he was abroad and not in a position to comment.
A spokesman for Parliamentary Secretary Michael Farrugia, responsible for Mepa, confirmed Dr Falzon’s appointment and said that “once a draft policy is formulated, public consultations are to be held as required by law”.